Historic Markers Across Alabama

The Fight At The Bridge

At around 9 p.m. on Easter Sunday, 1865, the Battle of Girard-Columbus neared its end in a terrible melee at the old 14th Street Bridge, at the time a completely enclosed wooden span. Within the unlit confines of the bridge, soldiers from both armies fought and grappled in total darkness, uncertain whether they fought friend or foe. Confederate artillery men on the Georgia side of the river, with cannon loaded with grapeshot and trained to shoot straight through the bridge, were afraid to fire lest they kill their own comrades. Once Union forces attained the Georgia side of the river, the fight was essentially over.

Erected by the Historic Chattahoochee Commission and the Phenix City-Russell County Chamber of Commerce, 2004.